Jackie Chan (成龍) might still be popular in China, but nowadays the pro-Beijing actor is as well-known as fodder for jokes as he is for his gritty martial arts and slapstick humor on screen. His latest contribution to the nation’s mass culture and entertainment: duang.
It is not a word, but a sound he made in an old TV commercial meaning something like “ta-da!” A new mash-up video of the old advertisement has made duang a trending topic on China’s social media.
The sound began circulating days before the Chinese legislature was called into session this week and some observers see it as a way for the public to question the credibility of delegates and express dissatisfaction with the political system. Chan, a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference since 2013, has been singled out not only because of his celebrity status, but for his reputation among many Chinese as someone who has been mercenary in aligning himself politically with the Chinese Communist Party to tap the Chinese movie market.
Though the tone of the phrase is more derisive than fun, Chan has been a good sport.
“It’s quite funny,” he told reporters on the steps of Beijing’s Great Hall of the People this week.
Chan used the sound in a 2004 infomercial to sell shampoo. In the commercial, he maintains there was no duang — or special effects — to make his hair look blacker, shinier and softer, but that the shampoo itself was responsible.
Authorities later ruled that the commercial made false claims, and Chan’s reputation suffered.
The word duang — in its Romanized form — has become one of the hottest expressions in Chinese cyberspace, and parodies of Chan’s shampoo endorsement are spreading online. Someone has even proposed a Chinese character for the sound by overlaying the two characters of Chan’s name, though modern Chinese does not officially incorporate new characters.
“When the legitimacy of these delegates gets questioned, celebrities such as Jackie Chan are the first to be targeted, because the public does not know other delegates,” Beijing-based independent commentator Shi Shusi said. “Those jokes relay a sense of anxiety.”
Chan has been a polarizing figure on his own as well. In 2009, he spoke against freedoms in Hong Kong and Taiwan, saying: “The Chinese need to be supervised, or they will do whatever they please.”
Last year, he spoke against Hong Kong’s democracy protests.
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